An extended method of time-dependent fundamental solutions for inhomogeneous heat conduction

In this paper, the method of time-dependent fundamental solutions is extended to solving transient heat conduction problems in inhomogeneous media. The solution of the problem under investigation is split into two parts, namely the particular and homogenous solutions. The novelty of the proposed approach lies in that an approximation of the particular solution is derived by using the fundamental solutions of the associated eigenvalue equations. Numerical results for one- and two-dimensional geometries are presented to verify the efficacy of the proposed method. The effects of the numbers of source and collocation points, the eigenvalues and the parameter T on the accuracy of the numerical solution are also investigated.